| # | Fact |
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| 1 | Johnny Weissmuller has one of the best competitive swimming records of the 20th century: He was one of the world's fastest swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals for swimming and one bronze medal for water polo at the Olympic Games in 1924 (Paris) and 1928 (Amsterdam). He won fifty-two U.S. National Championships, set more than fifty world records, both in freestyle and backstroke, and was purportedly undefeated in official competition for the entirety of his competitive career. |
| 2 | Natives of the village Zitiste near the town of Zrenjanin, Banat region in Serbia (near border with Romania) started a campaign to build a monument in honor of him, claiming that he was born there.(spring 2007). |
| 3 | Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 858-859. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998. |
| 4 | His younger brother, Peter Jr., was born in the United States (Chicago). Both boys were strong, assertive swimmers. |
| 5 | After school, he worked as a bellhop and elevator operator at the Plaza Hotel in Chicago and trained for the Olympics with a swim coach at the Illinois Athletic Club, where he developed his revolutionary high-riding front crawl. He made his amateur debut on August 6, 1921, winning his first AAU race in the 50-yard freestyle. |
| 6 | In the late 1950s after retiring from acting, Weissmuller moved back to Chicago and started a swimming pool company. He also lent his name to other business ventures, but did not have a great deal of success. He retired in 1965 and moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was Founding Chairman of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. |
| 7 | Made a cameo appearance with former "Tarzan" co-star Maureen O'Sullivan in The Phynx (1970). |
| 8 | In 1974, he broke a hip and leg. While hospitalized he learned that, in spite of his strength and lifelong daily regimen of swimming and exercise, he had a serious heart condition. |
| 9 | Moved to Las Vegas from Florida in 1973 where he was a greeter at the MGM Grand Hotel for a time. |
| 10 | His stormy third marriage to spitfire actress Lupe Velez (1933-1939) received much coverage in the Hollywood scandal sheets. The makeup man on the "Tarzan" set reportedly had quite a time of it concealing bruises and bite and scratch marks from their many fights. Lupe later committed suicide in 1944. |
| 11 | Inducted into the Body Building Guild Hall of Fame in 1976. |
| 12 | In 1970, he attended the British Commonwealth Games in Jamaica where he was presented to Queen Elizabeth. |
| 13 | During the making of the "Jungle Jim" movies, he was fined $5000 for every pound he was overweight. |
| 14 | Was the first man in the world to swim 100 m. Freestyle in less than a minute |
| 15 | He was the first speaking Tarzan and he died in January 1984, the month after the last surviving silent Tarzan, James Pierce, died. |
| 16 | During his appearance on German television show "Das aktuelle Sportstudio", a monkey removed his wife Maria's wig and threw it on the floor (1971). |
| 17 | Inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, 1983 (charter member). |
| 18 | Appears on sleeve of The Beatles' "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". |
| 19 | At his request, a recording of his trademark Tarzan yell which he invented was played as his coffin was lowered into the ground. |
| 20 | When Weissmuller was introduced to the first Cheetah in his Tarzan films in 1931 (he worked with 8 chimpanzees altogether), the chimp's trainer told him to show no fear or the animal would attack him. As Weissmuller, dressed in his Tarzan loincloth and hunting knife, walked up to the animal, it bared its teeth, growled at him and lunged as if to attack him. Weissmuller took the knife out of the sheath and held it in front of the chimp's nose, to make sure he saw and smelled it. He then slammed the animal on the side of the head with the knife handle. He put the knife back in its sheath and held out his hand to the chimp. It glared at him, bared his teeth again, then changed its mind, grinned at Weissmuller and jumped up and hugged him. Weissmuller never had any further problems with the chimp--although other cast and crew members did--and it followed him around like a puppy dog during all the pictures they worked together. |
| 21 | Weissmuller had a close call in Cuba during the time of the Cuban Revolution. While playing golf, he and his friends found themselves suddenly surrounded by a group of Fidel Castro's soldiers intent on kidnapping them, or worse. Thinking fast, Weissmuller immediately gave his trademark Tarzan yell. The soldiers immediately recognized it and were so delighted to meet Tarzan that they began to clap and escorted the group back to a safe area, where Weissmuller was presented a $100 bill. |
| 22 | Had three children with Beryl: Johnny Weissmuller Jr., Heidi Elizabeth Weissmuller and Wendy Anne Weissmuller. |
| 23 | Won 5 Olympic Gold Medals 1924-1928 for swimming. Broke the record in each race. From 1921-1929 he won every free style race he entered. |
| 24 | He was born in Freidorf, today Romania. His parents, Elisabetha (Kersch) and Petrus Weißmüller, a miner, were both Banat Swabians (ethnic Germans) and Hungarian citizens. They came to America when he was three years old. Because of Olympic eligibility issues, he told everyone he was born in Windber, Pennsylvania, USA. |
| 25 | Swimmer/actor, won five Olympic gold medals |
| 26 | Born at 6:30pm-LMT |
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